SNP Ramadhan - Gem 03

The speaker discusses the three levels of fasting. The highest level is described as the elite of the elite, where one dedicates everything to Allah and avoids all prohibited actions. The first level is fasting from food, drink, and sexual desire. The speaker emphasizes the importance of having the right attitude and intention while fasting. They also discuss the etiquette of fasting, such as not overeating and being conscious of one's health. The objective of fasting is to develop taqwa (piety) and the speaker encourages everyone to strive for the higher levels of fasting. They also mention the virtues of fasting and the rewards promised by Allah for those who fast sincerely. The speaker concludes by discussing the joy and rewards experienced by a fasting person when they break their fast and meet their Lord. In the last short session we spoke about the three levels of fasting, the complete level of fasting, the highest level, described as the elite of the elite, fill reservations with elite, it's just that they are the inner core, the higher core, the better core, it's where they try to make everything for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, all their thoughts, they want to just dedicate it to Allah, and they want their movements for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, or in that which is goodness. That's the third level, the first level is the fast from food and drink and sexual desire, sexual intercourse. The second level is that, the first level, but in addition to that, to make sure one is completely sealed off, all attachments to prohibited actions, of the eyes, the heart, the tongue, again the private parts and so on, so that which is normally haram, to one becomes even more haram now, one month fasting, one month fasting in the month of Ramadan. But if a person is carefree about something which is normally haram, then they haven't understood, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, whoever doesn't give up false statements and acting falsely, acting falsely means sinfully, then Allah has no need for him to leave him food and drink. So this expression from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is that of, he is rebuking people who think that leaving food and drink without the attitude of taqwa is acceptable by Allah s.w.t. But it's not acceptable because the goal of fasting is what Allah says, it's been decreed for you fasting as it was on those before you, so you can have the outcome of having taqwa, meaning more taqwa, developing taqwa, madrasah, it's the school of taqwa, this month, the university of taqwa, so a person should be even more strongly focused on that which is prohibited, that's the second level, that's the elite, and as if to say there is a section of muslim society who don't eat and drink, they don't give due attention to what is normally haram, you could say that includes somebody who is fasting but doesn't pray, and we have a section of our community who are like that, who generally aren't committed to the prayer but they are muslims, alhamdulillah, and they do like to fast, and they are people who you are giving dawah to, you are giving nasihat to, because if you become judgmental about them, then it's not, it could be, being judgmental won't work, you might make them think that it's between me and Allah s.w.t, I'm doing something, because there are people who don't do anything, they don't even fast, so it's an act of worship which they are engaged in and they deserve wisdom, treatment with wisdom, because Allah s.w.t is the one who accepts and it could be through the fasting, etc, year by year that they develop into salah, and perhaps this salah, this fasting keeps them from wrong, so those who pray and fast are not all the same, and those who don't pray and fast are not all the same, and we encourage everyone, we have to encourage everyone and use different styles of dawah for ourselves and for others, which encourages them, which encourages them. Of the etiquette of fasting now, of the etiquette of fasting is not to be so filled with food at night, but to, so that one can't participate in night activities, night activities here means tarawih and du'a, so eat, but eat according to a limit, and being conscious of constant eating, constant eating, it being halal and lawful to eat and drink until fajr, doesn't mean it's obligatory to keep eating and drinking, or recommended to keep eating and drinking, one should follow the wisdom of health. If you wanted to take something for strength, you have your fluids, you have to have your fluids and you have to keep strong for tarawih, if you wanted even between the two rakahs to put something in your mouth and eat it for strength, or some fluids with some strength in them, some energy in them, that's up to you, but as healthy as possible, remembering to top oneself up nutritionally for the following day, especially with water, and that which hydrates us. Anyway, but the point here is that being overeating, so that one, the goodness which is in you doesn't, isn't able to flower and flourish, and have a think in which circumstances overeating can occur, so it happens when you, just have a reflection, some people it could happen to them when they visit somebody, and they're invited, and you know, perhaps, and then make a point to say that I'm determined not to eat too much, I really appreciate this invitation, this dawah, and I'm going to make du'a for you, and to have the reward of me fasting as well, but really, in light of participation, we might not get another Ramadan, that's the attitude as well, which we should have. So eating too much, the author says, the author again is Sheikh Ahmad Ibn Qudda Maqdisi, it creates laziness within oneself, so if you're filled up in the first part of the night, you can't, you lose the whole night for a meal that lasted 15 minutes. If you overeat at Suhoor time, then you will also nullify it, so the issue is to self-manage, the issue is to self-manage, you know how much you need so that you can sustain yourself for work, for your duties, and then to get back to doing your acts of worship in your favourite chair, hopefully. So the idea of futoor, futoor is a word, it's not futoor as in futoor iftar, it's like giving up on actions, it's like being lazy. So futoor is something we don't want to occur, it's like a person who's capable of running three miles, futoor is when you give up after 500 metres or a mile. So eating too much gives you futoor in your worship, but you need to eat, you need to, so think well, think well, share good ideas, because it can be done, not to eat too much, but to overeat, and at the same time to eat sufficiently so that one is nourished for the night. The objective of fasting is taqwa, so there's a taqwa we're trying to aim at during the night as well, so if we overeat, we won't attain the night aims of taqwa, the night aims of taqwa, the evening aims. The evening aims can include sharing your taqwa food with people, or invited for sharing food with people, and sharing advice, and belittling, or sorry, reducing in habits which aren't that useful, like there are some people who increase in how many dramas they watch and films etc. they watch in Ramadan, and a lot of TV programmes, TV companies in Arab countries put more on in Ramadan, but really, we want to go to the second level of fasting and the third level of fasting, where we are thinking with Allah, dhikr, thinking about dhikr, dua, emancipating, getting emancipated from the fire, and being spared from the fire, and thinking about being accepted into Jannah. There are days in the year where it's recommended to fast, Mondays and Thursdays, or the three middle days, 13th, 14th, 15th of every month, Ashura, Arafa, but our fasting in Ramadan gives us more reward, much more reward than the Nawafil fasts. I'm going to now move on to take from Ibn Rajab's works on virtues of fasting, his book on the subtleties of knowledge, or mystic knowledge, you can call it ma'arif, and he's talking about the knowledge that one is illuminated with when one embarks on the path of Allah, Allah has blessed you with sincerity, the sincerity that's needed to fast and to pray, and the insights you get when you read the Qur'an and the meaning of the Qur'an. So, the full hadith on the virtues of fasting is a hadith which is in al-Bukhari al-Muslim, reported by Abu Hurairah, that the Prophet s.a.w. said, every action of the sons of Adam is his, every action will get 10 rewards, and up until 700, and the Prophet s.a.w. said, Allah s.a.w. said, except for fasting, because it is mine, and I reward accordingly, because he's left his desires, he's left his desires, he's left his food, he's left his drink, for my sake, so he's leaving things for my sake, Allah's sake, I do it for your sake, that is like a du'a, that sincerity is so deep, and valued by Allah s.w.t, these are where we get higher levels of reward, up until 700, and more, so, even though general actions you get between 10 and 700, the idea that an action is done for Allah s.w.t, he rewards as he wishes, meaning more than 700, because it's how much you personalise it, how much you make it for him, understanding him, loving him s.a.w., doing for his sake, and preferring him over one's own desires, preferring his love over one's own love, because he left his desires, his food and his drink for my sake, the fasting person has two joys, as he has a joy when he is breaking his fast, and he has a joy when he meets his Lord s.w.t, a joy when he meets his Lord, joy when he breaks his fast, often times the joys in the world are reminiscent of the joys of the hereafter, so, how happy a person would be to have fasted for 30 days, when those joys, when they meet Allah s.w.t, there will be a lot of joy, that they have fasted, Alhamdulillah, and one feels joy when one breaks one's fast, when one's finally able to quench one's thirst, update, quench one's thirst, thirst, and of course to say the du'as for breaking, at the time of breaking fast, and we spoke about Suhoor time previously, but there is du'as to be said, when one breaks one's fast, ذهبَظُّمَةَ, thirst has been quenched, وَبْتَلَّتِ الْعُرُوقِ, and my vessels, my blood vessels have been moistened, there is a sense they are drying up, وَذَهَبَثَبَةَ الْأَجْرِ, and the reward has been established, God willing, and one's hopeful for, and this was put for the sake of Allah, so the reward is established, and it's recommended to do du'a while one's fasting anyway, when one is in a state of Ibadah, all day you're in a state of Ibadah, you're in a state of Ibadah, you can talk, you can walk, but it's Ibadah, again it's Allah's, no one sees it, no one else sees it, there are no visible signs that you're fasting, there were some ulema of the forefathers, they were happy to look normal and alright, and their hair and their clothing was good while they were fasting, because they didn't want to show anyone that they were particularly suffering or struggling, but the hadith continues, the fasting person has two joys, the first one when he breaks his fast, he or she, and one when he meets his lord, of course if you share your fasting food with somebody, then, especially when you have need for your fasting food, and you gave up your desire for somebody else, these are added rewards, you get the reward of the person fasting, you get the reward of the other person fasting, who gets the reward by sharing food, well, it's you who paid for the food, or you who cooked the food, my belief is this, everyone participated, so if someone brought the food, bought the food from the shops for the intention of others to break their fast, and to get their reward, and someone else cooked the food, there could be according to intention, a collective reward there, Allah knows best, and the end of the hadith, the vast virtue, the vast mercy of Allah, very, the odour of the, from the mouth of the fasting person, it comes from the stomach, but we perceive it from the mouth, the odour is dearer to Allah, and sweeter to Allah than the fragrance of musk, so imagine the best, the most expensive, 100, 200, 300 pound perfumes, how they are to us so sweet, Allah swt prefers the odour of the musk, because of what's behind it, the odour of the stomach, the odour of the mouth of the fasting person, because of what's behind it, obedience, loving him, so one shouldn't be put off by one's own odour, one is permitted to brush one's teeth, you can brush your teeth, you can brush your teeth with toothpaste, but you shouldn't make a habit of swallowing of course, you shouldn't swallow it, but if one does swallow, and if there's just taste on the, on the, on the saliva, then that's, that's just taste, it's not food, it's not, sorry, it's just taste on the saliva, it's not a lump of toothpaste you're swallowing, if you want to avoid toothpaste completely, that's fine, but you're the ones permitted to use, if you brush your teeth before Suhoor, after Suhoor, sorry, before Fajr, now it's Fajr time, you still taste the toothpaste in your mouth, etc, it's harmless, don't think about it, if you need to brush your teeth during the day, you can do it without toothpaste, or with, then use a small amount, and if one wants to use Miswak, and then just spare yourself from the toothpaste, one can use Miswak, if one wants to just leave it, one can leave it, unless you, you felt that because you're going to work, etc, you want, you don't want there to be a foul taste, etc, and Inshallah we'll carry on.